Being Relevant

heart - heart attack - love
Posted on: December 23, 2022 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

The Heart

One look in the mirror and all is known. Ten years have passed in one day. Age seems to have whisked in overnight and stolen my youth. I look in the mirror and see battle scars of stress, disease, and heartache written all over my face as if the hands …

The Bucket List - From the Desert to the Cool Valley
Posted on: June 4, 2021 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

The Bucket List

I don’t have a bucket list. I don’t know why. It seems that everyone has a list of all the things they want to do before they die. Why don’t I have a list? Do I not contemplate death? No, that’s not it. I’ve stared cancer in the face and …

black lives matter - relevance live
Posted on: June 9, 2020 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

Fists to the Sky

DeborahSwanson · fists-raised-to-the-sky You cry out for justice for a man named George Floyd.You think he’s going to be your saviorto a broken system.His death was meaningless, senseless. You demand change to a flawed system,in which the powerfulcan take the lives of the innocent.Where the color of your skindetermines your …

Posted on: June 21, 2019 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

I Will Not Drown

In the midst of the storm, it is hard not to be terrified of the outcome. That is where I am now. Sometimes I hit the eye of the storm and all seems calm. Sometimes, like yesterday I get tossed to the violent edge and my heart panics and hurts …

insurance-assurance
Posted on: June 3, 2019 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

Insurance. Assurance.

Two days before leaving on our 17-day highly anticipated camping trip to see the fabulous National Parks on the western side of the United States, a woman stood on our porch and handed me paperwork for a lawsuit. I was served! I have never been served before and it felt …

Posted on: April 19, 2019 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 2

Remembering “One-Bad-Year”

One year ago today, April 17, I sat in my office trying to work while anxiously waiting for the call. It was now Tuesday and I should have heard yesterday. The call finally came and resulted in my “one-bad-year” with triple negative breast cancer. I am not very good at …

Posted on: December 25, 2018 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 0

I Am a Miracle

I am the parting of the Red Sea. I am the three feet of quail as far as the eye can see to feed a nation of God’s chosen people who perpetually disobeyed their Redeemer. I am the fresh water that sprang forth, at the command of Moses, to quench …

Posted on: December 18, 2018 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 3

Radiation’s Glow: Killing Cancer’s Final Frontier

Note: This post was finished weeks ago, but never got published due to a brain that functions at half capacity — much less than it is capable of when cancer arrives on the scene.  A single train of thought continually leaks through the crevices that once held them tight. Ideas …

Posted on: October 10, 2018 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 6

Face-to-Face with a Grizzly Named Cancer

To come in close proximity to a grizzly has got to be one of life’s defining moments. It’s definitely a David and Goliath moment. Last year, HOTY and I had the amazing opportunity to celebrate our 30 years of marriage with a dream trip to Alaska. I have to admit, …

Posted on: September 27, 2018 Posted by: Deborah Swanson Comments: 7

Lucky Charms and Lumpectomies

Wednesday (early morning): For days now I have had surgery on my mind. Not in the forefront, but lingering in the back forty. I haven’t written in four weeks because, believe it or not, I haven’t had anything to say. I am sure it’s the chemo lingering in the crevasses of …